What I enjoyed the most was discovering them sitting quietly in the trees above the feeders. A flock of pine siskins had come and gone and I was listening to three cardinals duke it out with song when a new influx of whistling siskins arrived. When they didn't descend on the feeders right away, I started to wonder how I was going to pick out the goldfinches for my Great Backyard Bird Count checklist.
As I was considering whether to count first or scan with binoculars, I discovered a male purple finch and near him, a first-glance-pine-siskin turned out to be a female purple finch and behind her, another one. What fun! I'm getting into these patient little beauties with the fluffed-up head feathers.
Above you're seeing two male purple finches.
They are so quiet, patient, seemingly in no hurry, but not timid about their right-of-way at the feeder. They fly in and everybody else moves over. I understand that is not so when house finches are present, but so far I haven't seen any house finches this winter. 
While I watched the pair below feeding together on sunflower seeds, another male and female landed on the birdbath and began to drink.
Peek through that window blur and don't miss that tufted-up crown on the right!
It was a bit of finch heaven at my place today!Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #25 at Birdfreak. com in support of the conservation of our world's birds.
